


Never is Impossible

by inkystake



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Friendship/Love, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-17
Updated: 2018-03-17
Packaged: 2019-04-01 11:54:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13997781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inkystake/pseuds/inkystake
Summary: “You'll never lie to me, right?”





	Never is Impossible

It had been a particularly bad day, and all she could see right now was the bad of the last week, the last month, the last year. She gulped down a shot of whisky, eyes darkened and flat.

“You look...tired.”

She stared. Not even the cheery pastel sweater of her best friend could lift her mood above the deep chasm it had sunk into. If anything, it dug the trench deeper. “Kara. You'll never lie to me, right?”

“I'll definitely try not to. Never lying is statistically impossible, you know.”

Lena scoffed, her lips twisting in a parody of humor. She turned to pour another shot and toss it back. “That's the truth. Everybody does lie, don't they.”

Kara stepped closer, concerned and trying not to show it. She failed. “I've told some real doozies without meaning to. I mean, sometimes words get away from me.”

“I've noticed you ramble, yes.”

“Oh right, sorry. What I mean to say is: it's why I don't try to lie about the important things, the things that matter.”

Lena looked at the earnest expression, the worried eyes under anxious brows. Her lips quirked up. “What _would_ matter to Kara Danvers, I wonder?”

“It matters to me that I keep the promises I make to the people I love.”

“Honorable. Would that virtue wipe away the lies?”

“Probably not? The ones you love hold the ability to hurt you the most.” Lena watched as a frission of remembered pain passed through the blonde's eyes. Yet Kara met her gaze with conviction. “There are things that matter to me that I would lie to protect.”

“Selfish.” Lena commented after a small pause.

“Yes. Exceedingly." Kara hesitated, then her expression firmed. "If I should tell you something that matters to me right now," Clear, curious blue eyes met shadowed, shuttered green. “Would you believe me? Considering the topic of conversation?”

Lena hummed thoughtfully. “I will,” she decided.

“Promise?”

“Yes. Even if it is just at this moment, I'll believe it.” Just this once, she would.

Kara nodded and moved closer, until there was less than a foot between them. “I will always protect you.”

Lena's breath hitched and she made an aborted motion with her hand, as if to stop the words from being said. Kara continued, not looking away from Lena, sky-blue gaze swimming with the deepest truth Lena could imagine.

“And I will ever be your friend. This I promise." The underlying sadness in Kara's eyes became a tad more pronounced. "I feel you didn't quite believe me the first time. I understand why you wouldn't. I just want you to know that I meant it.”

Lena drew a measured breath in and then slowly let it out. “Always is statistically impossible, you know.”

“Hah, yeah. There's definitely going to be times you're not going to let me protect you. You're stubborn like that.”

Lena wrinkled her nose in disdain at that.

Kara's teasing grin grew, before dimming like an oil lamp running out of fuel. “And I know there are times I won't be there.” She paused, gathering her thoughts. “But unlike 'never', 'always' is more of a constant process rather than expectation of a fait accompli. Even if 'always' falters sometimes, it continuously tries to do better.”

Tears sprang to Lena's eyes. That was...she couldn't even...it was so very much Kara.

“Why?” she asked, voice hoarse.

“Do you know how brightly you shine, Lena Luthor?” Kara beamed, fondness unconcealed. “I am always surprised that you do not see it, when you are worth all the good things the world can give. Take it from one who has seen darkness, how beautifully your soul sings. And you saw me, you sought to know me, you became a light in my life. How could I not pledge myself to you?”

“You...certainly have a way with words, Ms. Danvers.” Lena's heart thumped furiously in her chest, breath all but taken from her. These things, no one had ever said these things to her that she could remember. And now Kara, whose pain rarely breached the wall of positivity she maintained, who had known great loss and still had the strength to be genuinely happy, was saying those things to her. Right now, she could almost believe them. She shook her head, smirked, and poured another shot. “No wonder you're a reporter.”

“Oh, hah. You know I always thought journalism was Clark's thing. Then seeing him work, seeing you, it inspired me.”

You inspired me.

The words, silent but understood, hung between them solidly.

It was too much for Lena. “Well, take all the inspiration you can. I'm certain there'll come a time when you'll see Mr. Kent and I together again, and it won't end in a pretty news article.”

She reached for the bottle once more. Kara stopped her, took away the shot glass and placed it carefully on a coaster before she gently grasped Lena's hands in hers, comforting. The firm look in her eyes told Lena they were done with word games. “Something happened.”

Lena smiled wryly at her, softened a little by the warmth seeping into her chilled fingers. “Something always does.”

Kara snorted, returning the smile. Because yes, their friendship was one of constant interruption. “You don't have to tell me. But uh, can I hug you?”

“Please.” She murmured it, a word she'd been taught never to say so genuinely, half-hoping it would not be listened to. Then warm arms came around Lena and she wondered why she doubted, because somehow Kara always heard. Always. She relaxed just enough to let her head rest on her friend's shoulder. Kara pulled her closer, tighter, and Lena fisted her fingers in the soft fabric covering Kara's waist in order not to be swept away in the want, the need to simply fall into the other woman's inviting warmth and forget the world.

It was probably the Luthor in her, she thought, to be one inch away from happiness and cripple herself to not take it. But in this matter, she could not let herself, she would not.

One day, maybe.

But not today. Not this moment. Not even with Kara's truth between them, binding them together indelibly.

No, maybe...this she could do. This she could say. She swallowed dryly and told herself to be brave. Kara always heard. She would hear this. She parted her lips and whispered. “I promise too.”

The arms around her slackened briefly in shock, then tightened to an almost painful degree.

“Okay,” Kara said, her voice a bit shaky. “I'll believe it.”

“Promise?”

“Yes. I promise.”

Lena smiled genuinely, a smile she hid carefully in the velvety knit-work of Kara's cardigan. It was enough. Their friendship was one of constant interruptions, but this...it was enough to help them find each other again.

 

**~~ooo00ooo~~**

 

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this because I read a short of Lena turning evil because: “You'll never lie to me, right?” “Never.”  
> It was plausible and that just could not be. There was heavy darkness in that future and I could just imagine that world burning. Needless to say, I felt the need to write a more hopeful fic. It turned out a bit of a mess.  
> Falling into evil is believable only if Lena had made Kara the anchor to her sanity. Do people do that? I thought L-Corp was her sanity. Or that she'd been burned so badly she wouldn't trust another person that deeply.  
> Though, still plausible even then. Lena took over Luthorcorp at 23 (or maybe younger), after the trauma of seeing her brother mass-murder his way across Metropolis. Then she was forced to deal with the stress of single-handedly rehabilitating a company that probably nearly tanked because it's the only way she could see to redeem the Luthor name, to keep on holding on to something good of the family she had, something whole. She couldn't have recovered completely from the trauma, probably not even halfway there. And a major betrayal like the one person she decided to trust as a friend hiding a crucial part of her that had consequences to Lena as well would have tipped her over.  
> Am I talking myself into it? Cripes. Now I'd really like to read a good Lena-turning-evil fic.


End file.
